We bring color and brightness to our neighbors and communities

Our purpose to Protect and Beautify the World guides our actions in serving our communities and neighbors. PPG and the PPG Foundation collaborate with our global colleagues, community partners and other stakeholders to help our communities thrive.

Visit the Communities section of the PPG website for more information about how we are creating vibrant communities around the world.

We are honored to be recognized for our efforts in 2021.

• We earned the American Red Cross ‘Distinguished Leadership Award' for our contributions and leadership during some of the largest disasters. These efforts include work to assist when COVID-19 first impacted China and throughout the pandemic, the wildfires that devastated Australia, following Hurricanes Dorian, Florence, Harvey, Irma and Matthew in the U.S., and the winter storms in Texas.
• A PPG employee was recognized at the Union Rescue Mission's (URM) Angels of Hope Gala. Jennifer Addison, PPG final assembly operator, Aerospace, and former resident and counselor at URM's Hope Gardens Family Center, participated in PPG's job training program in 2019. She never imagined it would lead to a full-time career and new way of life for her and her children after her time at Hope Gardens. For more than 130 years, URM has been helping to transform the lives of those experiencing homelessness on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, California, with food, shelter, education, counseling and long-term recovery programs.
• PPG received the Corporate Leadership award from our partners at the Carnegie Science Center, which recognizes accomplishments that have led to significant economic or societal benefits for the Western Pennsylvania region.

Community Engagement Strategy

We amplify the unique talents of our employees and the financial contributions from PPG and the PPG Foundation to reach our global communities. We help students connect with science-related inspiration and advanced learning, transform communities with bright colors and address evolving, essential needs around the world.

In all that we do, we integrate and uphold our values of diversity, equity and inclusion. Together with our community partners, employees and investments, we work to create pathways and impacts that ensure support to underrepresented groups around the world.

In 2021, we committed to offsetting the heavy tolls of pandemic-caused learning challenges and met the significant needs our communities faced with meaningful commitments by focusing on how we can do the most good.

On an ongoing basis, we align our giving and community engagement resources in powerful ways to catalyze positive influences in our communities in three priority areas where we can make the greatest impact:

• Education;
• Employee engagement; and
• Community sustainability.

Community Engagement Governance

Our global community engagement strategy is overseen by the executive director of the PPG Foundation and global social responsibility. The executive director also leads grantmaking efforts in the U.S. through the PPG Foundation, with support from internal foundation agents who are based in local communities.

Global giving is directed by regional communications leaders in EMEA, Latin America and Asia Pacific. They are supported by local, in-country staff who execute the activities.

The foundation is governed by a board of directors, and global giving is governed by a committee comprised of PPG's CEO and leaders from the legal, human resources and finance functions, as well as a business representative.

Learn more about our PPG and PPG Foundation giving in 2021.

Global Priority Areas

Education

Activating our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

In 2021, PPG and the PPG Foundation announced a commitment to invest $20 million by 2025 to address racial equity in the U.S. by funding educational pathways for Black communities and people of color. The commitment strengthens our focus on education and furthers our support of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education.

Throughout 2021, PPG and the PPG Foundation collaborated with our Employee Resource Networks to identify and support programs that encouraged STEM exploration in talented young students from historically excluded groups, removed limits to handson science learning, and targeted historically excluded populations with a focus on inclusion, peer mentoring and professional development to help students thrive during their post-secondary studies. Learn more.

Knowing the important role that occupations in STEM play in driving economies and innovation, we support programming that makes STEM learning accessible to all, and support efforts to provide young students from historically excluded populations with engaging STEM learning opportunities.

We invest in programs that seek to remove barriers to hands-on science learning. This includes creating educational pathways for Black communities and people of color, empowering future female STEM leaders with opportunities for girls to explore sciencebased learning, and ensuring diverse students and underrepresented communities have opportunities to uncover new horizons in science-related fields.

From supporting early introductions to STEM experiences to higher learning support, we partner with organizations fostering future career successes to build the next generation of diverse STEM leaders. We inspire learning and cultivate careers by funding hands-on immersive learning opportunities that enable young students to learn, have fun and understand how STEM concepts relate to our daily lives.

With a particular focus on middle and high school, we invest in engaging STEM programs that spark an early interest in exploration and discovery and encourage curiosity in the possibilities of STEM studies.

To help students see the connections between STEM ideas and real-life innovations and careers, the PPG Foundation continued its support of Pittsburgh DataWorks' Data Jam. Through the program, the students were introduced to statistical analysis software to find resolutions to community problems using data, then presented their findings to PPG data scientists.

We support organizations that expand opportunities for students around the world and accelerate pathways for diversity in STEM fields, including Junior Uni, a nationwide teaching and research organization in Germany that offers young people access to scientific exploration through hands-on exercises in chemistry, physics, computer programming and more.

Creating exposure to STEM career possibilities

We support programs for young students that highlight career options from a STEM education and introduce them to role models and mentors who can help them visualize a future in STEM. We know that exposure to STEM careers at an early age helps to inform and shape future choices, such as choosing STEM classes in high school. We encourage our employee volunteers to share their science talent as mentors, to connect with students and demonstrate their personal career and education paths.

That's why our employees engage with programs such as CoolTech Girls, a regional organization that works to ignite girls’ passion in science and technology through workshops and role models. In 2021, PPG volunteers joined their color science virtual roundtable event. Demonstrating the chemistry behind a paint recipe, PPG chemists helped the attendees understand career paths in color science, chemistry, engineering and supply chain.

In Brazil, we partner with Junior Achievement on initiatives such as a personal finance program for high school students and an entrepreneurship program about globalization and STEM careers possibilities, among others.

Supporting innovation programming in science centers

We bring science and discovery to life by partnering with leading science centers.

One example is the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci in Milan, Italy, where learning takes place within a state-of-the-art, interactive laboratory designed for programs such as color-based chemistry workshops. In 2021, as part of a longstanding partnership with the museum, PPG helped fund the design and renovation of the lab as well as its equipment and content development.

In Dallas, Texas, the PPG Foundation and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science teamed up for the third annual year to take the TECH Truck program on the road. Through TECH truck, the Perot Museum seeks to reach and inspire young minds from under-resourced communities. TECH Truck offers interactive programming including the Crash Test Car Engineering Challenge, which is designed to allow participants to explore Newton's Laws of Motion and other principles of physics that come into play when two objects, such as cars, collide.

Ensuring that students pursuing higher learning have the support they need to reach their career dreams

With the world's leading universities and training institutions, we establish scholarships and fund skillbuilding programs that prepare STEM scholars for future career paths.

In China, the PPG University Talent Power Program and the Career Intelligence Class provide financial assistance to help students complete their education and explore scientific research while offering active mentorship and career exposure opportunities.

In partnership with the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women at Case Western Reserve University, the PPG Foundation supports a community space that empowers women and advances gender equity through research. Here women students have access to a re-imagined, inclusive space that removes social and economic barriers placed by society and enables them to discover and explore their ideas.

To meet the demand for skilled workers in manufacturing and the painting industry, we support workforce development initiatives that provide training and opportunities. We joined the Rosedale Technical College's Collison Repair program's efforts to stay at the forefront of advancing automotive technologies and industry standards and train students for employability that is compatible with the forwardfocused standards and requirements needed in the collision repair industry.

Enabling Possibilities with Education

Learn more about how we help community partners provide opportunities for STEM discovery and advanced learning, and create more engaging classrooms with bright color:

• University relationships: Advancing innovation and supporting STEM scholars.
• Science Center partnerships: Expanding science discovery.
• Colorful classrooms: Enhancing the physical readiness of learning spaces.

"We truly value the support of PPG in our work to create an innovative laboratory design and training resources that help people, particularly the younger generations, develop a positive relationship with the sciences. With the laboratory dedicated to chemistry, it is possible to build a new relationship with this scientific field, favoring an intuitive, relational and creative vision of science in connection with the surrounding world. It is a fundamental service for schools, universities and business."

Fiorenzo Galli
General Director, the National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo da Vinci

Employee Engagement

From sharing science know-how to hosting career panels, to painting classrooms, our employees play an active role in building better communities. To support these efforts, PPG and the PPG Foundation offer ideas, opportunities and financial support to bolster employee community service.

Each region offers tailored opportunities for employees to volunteer with our nonprofit partners and to amplify the reach and impact of our PPG Foundation grants and global giving.

In the U.S., eligible employees can participate in community-minded programs, such as Matching Gifts and the GIVE volunteer grant program. Eligible employees also can access eight hours of paid volunteer time off per calendar year for non-company sponsored activities. Learn more.

As part of our Charity Partner program, employees in EMEA can identify and collectively support a charitable organization through the year with fundraising efforts and volunteering. PPG provides matching funds.

We seek to activate the time and talent of our employees to make a difference in our local communities, encouraging them to volunteer and support causes they believe in. In 2021, our employees were inspired to improve the lives of others and embodied our commitment to protect and beautify the world through activities such as:

• Making a difference on #GivingTuesday: From hosting a virtual raffle in support of pregnant women and mothers in need in Brno, Czechia, to collecting and holding a bake sale benefitting Charity Partner AJ's Legacy in Stowmarket, United Kingdom, our employees across 20 countries took part in interactive and creative activities that supported multiple non-profit organizations in their local communities on #GivingTuesday.
• Feeding the mind: PPG employees and the Center of Science and Industry in Delaware, Ohio teamed up for a day of STEM community outreach to educate, demonstrate and distribute 500 "lunchboxes" equipped with five science activities to feed the students' minds for a week.
• Sharing business skills: In Brazil, our employees continued a long-standing partnership with Junior Achievement to equip young people with employment and entrepreneurship skills. Through several virtual and in-person sessions, PPG volunteers met with more than 1,100 students preparing to enter the workforce and shared insights on career planning, STEM career paths and workplace ethics. During 2021, more than 3,000 young people were reached through this relationship.
• Inspiring STEM: PPG volunteers in East Point, Georgia served nearly 600 elementary students with immersive Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STREAM) learning experiences, creating PPG STREAM Academy. Students participated in 13 interactive stations, including a mini-robot station where they learned about coding and how it relates to the cell phones and computers they use.
• Igniting colorful careers: In Spain, female PPG volunteers joined STEM Talent Girl, a program led by the ASTI Talent And Technology Foundation, to inspire, encourage and empower girls and young women to pursue careers in STEM through the opportunity to explore professions and virtually talk with women in various STEM fields.

Community Sustainability

As students returned to classrooms and neighbors reunited in 2021, PPG addressed the diverse and urgent needs in the communities where we operate. Whether brightening neighborhoods through our global Colorful Communities program, helping those facing hardships caused by natural disasters or the pandemic, or supporting partners addressing racial injustices, we always aim to create happier, healthier, more united communities.

Colorful Communities Program Powers Change with Transformative Color

Across the world, the Colorful Communities program unites the power of innovative PPG paint products and our employee volunteers to brighten neighborhoods and make a positive impact. In 2021, the program sought to beautify classrooms and to provide effective learning environments and educational experiences for students despite the increasing educational impacts due to the lingering pandemic.

Each region works with its local communities to identify partners and projects that need a refresh, such as a school with dreary corridors and dull, uninspiring classrooms. Through this program, we strive to enhance quality of life and leverage the impact of color to bring happiness and a sense of pride to these community organizations. Since the Colorful Communities program launch in 2015 and through 2021, PPG employees have positively impacted more than 7.4 million people and completed 386 projects in more than 42 countries.

We empower our employees to identify opportunities to host Colorful Communities revitalization projects that impact diverse communities including:

• Welcoming students with color: In Tianjin, China, PPG volunteers united at the TEDA preschool to bring oranges, yellows and other joyful shades to a weathered building. The school was transformed into a creative and thriving facility in time for the young students to return following their summer break.
• Surrounded with color: PPG volunteers in Cairo, Egypt, created vivid murals and applied calming, comforting colors to the walls of FACE for Children in Need - Maadi Center. FACE assists and protects orphans, homeless children and their families through multiple programs designed to protect, care for and educate vulnerable children in Egypt.
• Colorful creations: In Santa Ana, California, the Orange County Educational Arts Academy, a public, independent charter school serving more than 600 students with Spanish Dual Language immersion, received a colorful makeover of the school's playground space. The playground features 10,000 feet of immersive, one-of-a-kind artwork to create a unique educational experience outside of the classroom.
• Creating hope: PPG volunteers in Las Piedras, Uruguay, added cheerful yellows and teals to the exterior of La Huella, a home for children experiencing homelessness. Volunteers also refreshed social and common areas inside of the home, providing a welcoming, comfortable environment.

Responding to Disasters

As parts of the world faced hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters, or unforeseen hardships due to the ongoing pandemic, in 2021, PPG and the PPG Foundation provided immediate and long-term support to help respond and rebuild across our global communities. We provided time and financial resources through employee volunteers, monetary grants and products.

From education programs and supplies to providing nutritious meals for food insecure families, we supported efforts in 2021 to address the immediate needs in our communities, including the following:

• PPG provided financial assistance and employee matching donations to support relief efforts in the wake of the F4 tornado that impacted the South Moravia region of the Czech Republic, the catastrophic floods that swept through Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and fires impacting areas of Turkey.
• As the pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to food bank operations across Europe, PPG grants enabled partners such as Banco Alimentare in Italy, Tafel in Germany and Secours Populaire Français in France with resources to support food insecure families. Through 2021, PPG provided financial support to more than 50 organizations in Europe, Middle East, Africa, French Overseas and Suriname that offer pandemic-related food, education and mental health support to those in need.
• In Brazil, PPG supported several organizations in 2021 that provided food for vulnerable families affected by the pandemic.
• When the COVID-19 Delta variant created unprecedented hardship in India, PPG provided donations and an employee contributions match program to support Give2Asia, a non-profit group that works directly with local organizations to offer immediate, emergency local relief support. PPG’s donation was directed to the Hand in Hand India organization to help underserved individuals affected by COVID-19 access quality health care. Funds were also provided to five hospitals within the New Delhi, Pune and Ahmedabad, India, districts for the purchase of 50 medical oxygen concentrators.
• When devastating winter storms impacted Texas, the PPG Foundation joined the relief efforts of the American Red Cross and Feeding Texas, partnering with nearly two dozen food banks throughout the state as a part of the Feeding America network.
• In response to floods causing damage throughout Tula Hidalgo, Mexico, PPG provided cleaning kits to the community to assist with response efforts.

"The funding that we at Casa Buna Association received helped us in the past year to continue our online educational activities and to expand to new families that need our help. With PPG support, we were able to continue school and online education for over 270 vulnerable children from Bucharest and rural areas, because we had the necessary IT equipment and technical support to make it happen."

Eliza Trăistaru
Executive Director, Asociatia Casa Buna

Supporting a more equitable society

To help advance a more equitable society, we support social justice efforts that expand access to opportunities across our communities worldwide. In 2021, our grantmaking in the U.S. included social justice initiatives that focus on civil rights, criminal justice reform and the cultural heritage of Black communities and people of color. These grants were made through relationships with organizations such as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Outside the U.S., we work with a range of nonprofit organizations that seek to expand opportunities to underserved groups.

Learn more about how we give back at communities.ppg.com.